Ticket for $228.5 million Powerball jackpot sold near San Francisco

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The winning ticket for a $228.5 million Powerball jackpot was sold in the San Francisco Bay area, the only ticket to match all six numbers in the multi-state lottery so the holder will not have to split the prize with anyone, officials said on Thursday.

The winner has not come forward since the drawing on Wednesday night, said Greg Parashak, spokesman for the California Lottery.

The ticket was bought at Key Market in San Mateo, just south of San Francisco, and the retailer will receive $1 million for selling it, lottery officials said.

A $1.3 million prize also will go to the holder of a ticket bought in Fresno, California, that matched every number in the drawing except the crucial last Powerball number.

The winning numbers in the drawing were 7, 14, 24, 41, 21, and the Powerball number was 26.

The largest ever Powerball jackpot was for $590.5 million and went to the holder of a single winning ticket last year. Some other large jackpots have been split between more than one winning ticket.

California joined the Powerball game last year and so far the largest jackpot winner in the state was a retired man who claimed a $425.3 million prize in February and showed up at a lottery office with the winning ticket and wearing a "Star Wars" T-shirt emblazoned with the words "Luck of the Jedi I have."

Odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are one in 175 million, and the game is played in 44 U.S. states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.